Milwaukee, Wisconsin – A shocking video has emerged on social media purporting to show a White woman being beaten and robbed at gunpoint by Black criminals in the parking lot of a bank. As the assault takes place, the voices of men inside can be heard instructing others to “close the door” and leave the woman to fend for herself.

The video first made the rounds on Twitter by @ChicagoCritter, who reported that the crime took place at a Chase Bank on Milwaukee and Washtenaw Ave on Sunday the 19th. The video shows what appears to be a White woman with long brown hair being forcibly robbed in broad daylight by a Black man armed with a gun.

As she lies on the ground struggling to run away, another Black man can be seen joining in and ripping an item from her hands. The two attackers then enter a nearby vehicle where a third suspect drives them away.

“Oh no no, he has a gun,” says one man during the video, which was shot inside what appears to be a Chase location. “Stay here, stay here, close the door!”

In the footage, a man on the inside can be seen running to shut and apparently lock a door that leads inside. Instead of helping, the men appear to deny the victim a potential safe haven while they fend for themselves. It is unknown if the men filming the incident called authorities during or after the incident.

The “cowardly” reaction by the men filming the incident—which has since been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on X, formerly Twitter—sparked a heated debate in the comments section, with some questioning the legally fraught concept of self-defense and vigilante justice in modern America.

“Looks like the guy had a firearm. Unless you’re carrying and willing to use it to defend someone, there’s not much you can do,” commented one user. “Even if you’re defending someone, you still may get arrested.”

“Maybe because when good citizens help. They put the good citizens in prison. Would not stop me from helping. But I definitely see a problem,” wrote another.

The sentiment found online would not be without merit. In recent years, several high-profile criminal cases have been leveraged against White citizens who dared to use force to protect themselves or others against Black criminality. In April, 24-year-old Daniel Penny—who is White—used physical force to deal with a mentally ill Black street performer on a New York City subway car. While the aggressor, 30-year-old Jordan Neely, died during the violent outburst, it was Penny who ended up facing charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide just for protecting his fellow straphangers from harm.

One can even face serious criminal charges and accusations of “hate” for defending themselves inside their own homes. Earlier in the year, White 84-year-old, Andrew D. Lester, fired a .32-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver through a glass door to his home at what he believed to be a Black criminal attempting to kill him. His target ended up being 16-year-old Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager who claims he went to Lester’s home “by mistake” while trying to pick up family members.

For defending himself against an intruder, the elderly Lester now faces felony charges of assault in the first degree and armed criminal action. Additionally, anti-White activist groups, local “Black leaders” and even members of Lester’s own family have come out to attack the accused, painting him as a hateful bigot and even advocating for hate crimes charges.

“The current state of (our) justice system is responsible for this,” said one user on X, formerly Twitter. “Any person who would go out there and deal with this forcible felony the proper way would be in for a world of hurt given that our justice system is likely to side with the perp perpetrators as opposed to the hero.” Take a look at recent California and New York cases.”

While little is known about the incident that took place in the above video, and the victim and suspects have so far yet to be identified by Police, Black crime in Milwaukee has only skyrocketed in recent years. According to a 2023 report by SafeHome.org—which uses FBI crime data to source its information—the city of Milwaukee ranks as the third most violent city in America, nearly topping the charts in murder, aggravated assault, and robbery.

Milwaukee’s violent crime epidemic appears to directly correlate with its racial demographics. As of the 2020 US Census Report, the minority-majority town is home to a surging 40.1% Black population, holding hands with an equally robust 20.1% Mestizo (Hispanic) demographic. A 35.4% White population is all that remains of what was once considered the “German Athens of America,” a group that, as of 1990, was at a far more racially homogenous 60.8%.

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